


Make Quiet Things Heard

by Troplet



Category: Legacies (TV 2018)
Genre: Angst, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/F, Fluff, Hosie, Humor, Romance, Season 1, season1rewrite, slowburn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-16
Updated: 2021-02-01
Packaged: 2021-03-14 21:02:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 16,566
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28801764
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Troplet/pseuds/Troplet
Summary: On what was supposed to be a standard recruitment job with Dr. Saltzman, Hope finds a drunken and invisible Josie stowed away in the back of the Alaric’s SUV.A night of changing heartbeats, granola bars, panic attacks, lighting fires inside a church, and petting a white werewolf is just the beginning of Josie Saltzman's journey to finding her voice.Josie may be direct with her intentions and thoughts under the influence of alcohol. However, when they return to the Salvatore Boarding School, Hope finds it much harder to connect with the quiet and more importantly sober voice of someone who doesn’t want to be heard.One thing is for certain, Hope will not give up on making quiet things heard.
Relationships: Hope Mikaelson/Josie Saltzman, Hosie - Relationship
Comments: 117
Kudos: 426





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I wanna connect with the community but I’m not really sure where to jump in. My twitter is @troplet_ :) Or Wattpad is @Troplet.

As night drew closer, the natural daylight streaming inside Hope’s bedroom turned into a yellow hue. Unbeknownst to her, it obstructed the true colors of the paint she was using. She hadn’t noticed how late it had gotten or how the sun rapidly disappeared below her window. It wasn’t until she glanced up and saw her golden eyes reflected in the mirror on the opposite side of the room that she took note of outside and saw the setting sun.

She stood in front of an easel, wearing a black hoodie two sizes too big and covered in blue and yellow paint. The grey yoga pants were blotched with flecks of white paint too. 

Blinking, her eyes shifted back into their normal blue, and with it came claustrophobic shadows of the night. It wasn’t like she was scared of the dark or anything. It's just that, she was painting in the dark like a serial killer or something equally as creepy. It sounded like something her dad would’ve done. 

She murmured the “ _Post tenebras spero lucem_ ,” incantation under her breath, conjuring the ball of light on her hand. She strapped the light into various candles by flicking her wrist and finishing, “ _Fiat lux, et ardeat lucerna hanc non amare_.”

The luminescent lights glowed and flickered, creating the perfect ambiance for someone who was decidedly not a serial killer. A bunch of purist vampires turning to dust didn’t count. Okay. They might've. It was the power of the Hollow at work. That’s what her family told her time and time again. The power needed to be released and in hindsight, what was a more productive use of that power than wiping out Nazi vampires who had a hand in killing her mom? Besides, that was years ago. In the supernatural world, the slate should be cleaned every damn year. 

She spent another twenty minutes absorbed by the painting and didn’t notice that her Aunt Freya had astral projected herself into the room. But after a few seconds, Freya’s scent made itself known, demanding Hope’s attention. A delicate fusion of coconut milk and lavender. Hope inhaled deeply and smiled a little at Freya’s patience. If had been any other person in her family they would’ve demanded her attention straight away. If Hope could just get this damn chef’s hat to look natural, she could finish up for the night. The painting might've been a depiction of Kol in a ball pit while cooking. An idea courtesy of a Cutthroat Kitchen episode.

Freya sat the edge of her bed, sitting on her hands and looking around at the notably impersonal bedroom. 

“It’s nice to see you paint again, Hope,” Freya said, finally catching Hope’s undivided attention. 

“It’s nice to be painting again, I guess,” Hope said casually, letting Freya know she’d know all along that Freya had been watching her. She dropped her paintbrush into the jar of water next to her.

“Why the sudden interest?”

“It might’ve had to do with you mentioning something about needing hobbies last week. Dr. Saltzman mentioned it too on numerous occasions as he punched my face. Or tried punching my face. There were fists involved. I just so happened to run out of Cutthroat Kitchen episodes to binge last night. So. Here’s another hobby. You’re a winner. He’s a winner. Everybody’s happy.”

“Hope. You watched it all?” Freya asked with a tinge of judgment in her voice. Hope nodded, pretending to not notice the incredulous expression on her aunt's face. “All fifteen seasons?”

“I know you and Keelin have watched Grey’s Anatomy at least twice over.” There had to be at least twenty seasons in that immortal show. It’d been around ever since she could remember. “You don’t see me judging you for it."

“That’s different. First of all, there are seventeen seasons. Second, we’re old and we’re tired moms.” 

Freya’s defense was better than Hope’s ‘I have no friends and therefore a lot of time to waste’ excuse. But her aunts weren’t exactly old. Not by physical standards, anyway. Freya slowed down her aging so she still looked at least twenty-five. 

“Fine, don’t tell me," Freya said. "It doesn’t matter why. As long as you’re enjoying yourself, that’s all that matters. But I will ask you to show me when you’re done if you want someone to share it with?”

“Who else am I going to show it to?”

“I’m sure a lot of people would like to see if you let them.”

A lot of people. Yeah right. 

If Freya meant the rest of the Mikaelsons, sure, they’d love to see that she was painting again. She could see it now. Rebekah looking at the painting with a grin that showed her dimples but her eyes telling a different story. She’d go back in time to when she saw Klaus paint. She’d tell Hope some stories about how Klaus used to be a gentle child who pinned flowers in her hair if he didn’t use them to make paint. He didn’t want to waste the wildlife he plucked from the earth. The nostalgia stung a little too much for Hope to bear sometimes. As the reminder of Klaus painting did for Rebekah, probably. Kol would offer up his face to be her inspiration and Marcel would say something along the lines of ‘Good job, kiddo.’ 

Anyone else? Besides the people of the Salvatore School knowing her name and heritage, no one knew anything about Hope. She liked it that way. Preferred it, even. 

Painting was her sanctuary. Something she didn’t have to share with the world. She didn’t plan on showing anyone how she painted stand-out moments of kitchen shows because she couldn’t bear to paint the memories that swarmed her brain at night. 

Her mother showing her the Bayou in Peace. Uncle Elijah showing her how to drive and drinking milkshakes. Her dad out in the forest showing her the perfect flowers to mix paint.

Shaking her head, she said, “I’m not so sure about that, Aunt Freya.”

Freya was about to respond but a knock on the door interrupted her. Hope pointedly looked at Freya who with shock evident on her face, twisted around on the bed to get a look at who is visiting Hope at ten o’clock at night. Honestly, Freya’s guess was as good as hers because who’d be visiting her during the daytime never mind at night?

Just then noticing her ruffled hair in the reflection of the mirror across the room, Hope’s chin dropped to her chest to assess the rest of the damage. New blobs of paint on her hoodie. Red. Like she’d gorged on some helpless student. Great. She was already prepared for the rumors she’d hear in grapevine in the morning.

Staying behind the easel, she brushed her hands over her thighs. She curled her finger in a pulling motion and said, " _Dissera portus_.”

The door swung open with a little too much gusto and battered against the wall inside her room. There was a permanent dent in the wall. On the other side of the door was Josie Saltzman with comically wide eyes at the sudden motion. 

Josie was wearing a yellow short-sleeved button-up shirt and blue jeans like she’d just come back to the dorms from a party. Her cheeks were tinted pink and her pupils were blown. She was potentially tipsy. Hope discreetly sniffed the air and along with the scent of a vanilla lotion, there was a spritz of jasmine perfume. How Hope knew which was which was even a mystery to her. When it came to scents, she didn’t question it much. Instinct took over. And the third thing Hope smelled on Josie was beer. It wasn’t atypical that Hope would have no idea about parties going on but she hadn’t heard so much as a whisper from anyone about sneaking out for the night.

Josie looked in the room and if her slightly agape mouth was anything to go by, she seemed surprised to see Hope, despite being the one who knocked. 

“Hope,” Josie said slowly.

“Josie? What are you doing here?” The shock in her voice came out sharp. Much angrier sounding than she intended. It was a surprise, that’s all. Josie nodded, shifting her gaze away as if expecting that reaction. “I mean, Aunt Freya, you remember Josie Saltzman.”

“I do.” Freya smiled, a nice contrast to her niece’s unsure frown. “It’s nice to see you again, Josie. Hope, I have to go, Nik’s up when he _knows_ he shouldn’t be. But as soon as that piece is done?”

Hope nodded. “You’ll be the first to know. I promise.”

Freya nodded at the girls and disappeared. 

Josie wrangled her fingers, something Hope would’ve considered a nervous tick if it wasn’t for the annoyance on her face. “Dad wants you in his office.”

“Right now?” Hope clarified. 

“Why else would I be here?”

“Right.” Josie was right. That was a dumb question. They never said any more words than they needed. “Did he say anything else?"

“Nothing. He did try and hide his crossbow if that means anything.”

They shared a knowing look.

A recruitment gig most likely. It’d been a while since he’d taken her out to fetch someone from the brink of exposure. 

The last job had been on the border of South Carolina and Georgia. There had been some reports of strange activity coming from the students, mostly the males. 

On their last job, it was the night of a school dance. A teenage vampire had compelled all the jocks of the school to slap their faces every time she made eye contact with them. Hope and Dr. Saltzman found the vampire spinning around in the middle of the dance floor, gulping back a suspicious thick red substance from a see-through plastic cup. And while she twirled in the same spot, she made eye contact with as many jocks as possible. The slap after slap had been a little cathartic if you’d asked Hope. She would’ve had let it have continued if Dr. Saltzman didn’t point out the girl’s face covered in blood. 

Hope picked up a jacket from the end of her bed and shoved her phone into her back pocket. She spun around, unsure of what else to bring when Josie pointed to her cheek. Puzzled, Hope reached up and felt the dried and cracked paint on her skin. Well. That was embarrassing. She looked into her mirror and dabbed it away. 

She grabbed her pre-packed overnight bag by the door and swung it over her shoulder. Because you never know where Dr. Saltzman’s spontaneous plans could lead to.

“You think it’s another recruitment job?” Josie asked, following her down the hallway.

“It’s the only reason he’d want me at this time of night.” Noticing Josie matching her stride, Hope continued, “No offense but why did he send you? Don’t you have better things to be doing than playing messenger for him?

“Contrary to what you and he might think, Hope, I don’t mind doing things for my dad,” Josie said lowly.

“That’s not what I meant.”

Josie scoffed and muttered, “Sure, Hope.” 

Remaining quiet, they walked by the dorm rooms. Josie led Hope all the into Alaric’s office. Hope wasn’t sure why she was being personally escorted across the campus but she didn’t ask out loud. Josie stared dead ahead, a serious pouty frown in place; a girl on a mission. Who was Hope to interfere with such drunken determination? If Hope were being honest, Dr. Saltzman would probably be just as buzzed as his daughter. 

Once inside the office, Dr. Saltzman tossed a heavy black duffel back full of equipment on his desk. He turned, running a stressed hand through his hair, and ducked beneath his desk, not bothering to glance in their direction. 

“I know, Hope, it’s late but you can get some shut-eye on the way to Atlanta. Forty-five minutes, enough time to recharge your batteries.” He slapped his hand against his desk and heaved himself up. He finally made eye contact with Hope and in the process noted his daughter by her side. "Oh, Josie, you’re here?”

“You told me you needed Hope,” Josie said, ignoring the less than subtle command to leave. 

“And now I’m telling you, you should head off to bed. Lizzie will be wondering where you are. It’s late. I’ll see you in the morning before classes start, okay? I should be back before you wake up. We can continue our chess game another time.”

Ignoring most of what he said, Josie asked, “Atlanta? What’s in Atlanta? Or who’s in Atlanta?”

“There’s been a strange collection of reports. A foster kid with anger issues. Strange enough to check out. I’m hoping it’s a clueless kid not knowing his own strength. If not, you don’t need to know. Alright, I’m good to go. Are you ready, Hope?”

“Yep, Dr. Saltzman.” Hope grabbed the bag from the desk, noting the clanging chains inside.

Josie raised a finger. "One thing before you go.”

“I’m not taking you with me, Josie,” Dr. Saltzman said.

“It’s not that. I mean, what’s one more minor, right?” Josie quirked a pointed eyebrow. “But that’s not the point. Shouldn’t you hire someone, an adult, someone of legal age, someone trained to deal with these sort of things to go on these recruitment jobs? Mom mentioned something along those lines last time she was here. Have you been doing any interviews lately?”

Dr. Saltzman narrowed his eyes. “Are you trying to guilt me into letting you come?”

“No . . .?”

“Blackmailing me?”

“Not exactly. Unless . . . Is it working?” Josie asked, widening her eyes and fluttering her eyelashes innocently.

“Not in the slightest.” He stomped her plans for the evening. “Besides, Hope’s legal guardian gave consent. Your guardian on the other hand? Let’s just say it’s not up for debate.”

Josie leaned her hip against the door’s frame and maintained eye contact with her dad. The previous almost playful atmosphere had swollen into something less pleasant. The accusations in Josie’s eyes, the defiance in Dr. Salzman’s, both as fiery as the other. It was a quiet stand-off, and a ticking time bomb, and Hope didn’t want to get in the middle of it. 

Usually, it was Lizzie with the protests and the animosity when Hope spent time alone with Lizzie’s dad. Their training, recruitment gigs, even the assigned anger management classes. Once Lizzie caught a whiff of their plans, she went full-on hulk. Josie was usually the peacemaker, the one who pointed out the bright side of any given situation. Not this time though. There was no one around to convince.

“Are you feeling okay, Josie? You look tired,” Dr. Saltzman said, avoiding the conflict like the plague so much that he couldn’t tell his daughter was definitely tipsy. 

“I’m fine,” Josie claimed, directing her eyes to the floor. 

Hope thumbed toward the door. “I’ll go wait in the car while you two talk.”

“No, it’s okay, I’ll leave you two to it.” Josie pried her gaze away from her dad and made direct eye contact with Hope. “It’s not like anyone else needs to be prepared for the real world other than the already invincible Hope Mikaelson. Right, Dad?”

“Josie . . .” Dr. Saltzman warned.

Wiggled her fingers with a fake smile, she spun around and called over her shoulder, "Enjoy your trip.”

Hope took a step back out the door and watched as Josie walked away down the hallway, the tips of her red glowing fingers grazing the walls.

“I don’t mind waiting in the car if you want to catch up and talk to her,” Hope said, stepping back into the room.

“Don’t mind her, she’s going through a hard time right now,” Dr. Saltzman dismissed. “When you’re that young, heartbreak clouds even the clearest of minds. You’ll learn that soon enough. She’ll get over it."

“She’s kind of right, though.”

“About what? She said a lot of things.”

“I should be compensated for my labor.” Hope swung the heavy duffel bag pointedly. 

“You should be making friends your own age.”

“So should you.”

“Touché.”

“But she’s also right about giving them a chance to learn how to defend themselves. Someday they’re going to be outside the school’s borders and stuck in a sticky situation. I don’t think recruitment jobs is the right idea but even defensive classes for situations where they can’t siphon magic would be a good start.”

“I’m the parent here, Hope. I think I know what’s best for my daughters.”

He ushered her out of his office and locked up the room. The set frown on his face deterred Hope from pushing the point further. Another day. 

* * *

According to Dr. Saltzman, they took an ‘inconspicuous' black SUV onto the road. Now maybe it was the TV nerd in her, but whenever she saw an SUV rolling around, she automatically assumed it was someone tailing another person or someone doing something less than legal. SUV meant shady business in Hope’s book. But hey, Dr. Saltzman was the adult and she was the glorified magical bodyguard. What did she know?

As soon as she buckled her seatbelt in the passenger seat, a weird sensation swelling in her heart stopped her cold. It turned into a hummingbird, like the beginnings of heart palpations when waking up in the middle of a nightmare. Instead of cold sweat on her chest, the walls inside her chest burned. She rubbed her thumb against her chest, and before she could _will_ it to go back to normal, the pace of her heart slowed down until it was calm and maybe a little too slow for comfort.

To compensate for weird heart spasms she breathed in and out. The second she inhaled she spun around and scanned the backseat. No one was there. Strange. She could’ve sworn she smelled Josie’s lotion again. Cocking her head to the side, she listened, and the only sound that made itself known was Dr. Saltzman’s boots on the pavement after he slammed the trunk shut. 

There was something _weird_ about the inside of the SUV. She couldn’t place the strange sensation in the back of her neck. Alaric, oblivious to Hope’s cautiousness, threw his duffel bag into the back seat. There was a strange grunting noise but Hope put that down to Alaric awkwardly tossing it over his shoulder and straining his old man bones.

Right from the get-go, Hope rested her head against the chair, using the lever by the right-hand-side of the seat to lower herself back, and sighed. There were no lights except the stars in the sky and the blue lights from the radio system and the occasional street lamp. While Hope tried falling asleep, Alaric decided it was the prime time for a teacher-student chat. When they bypassed the ‘Leaving Mystic Falls’ sign, Dr. Saltzman thrummed his fingers against the steering wheel and glanced to Hope.

“When your dad first came to Mystic Falls, he was alone and angry. It was him against the world.”

“I’ve done nothing to warrant a lecture.”

“I know it was you who sent those bees after Alyssa Chang.”

“Evidence?” she asked, pretending to find the view outside interesting.

“They turned back to their original form after they stung her,” he said, lifting a few fingers from the steering wheel and rubbing them together. “You painted them with the intention of attacking her. Didn’t you?”

“No.” Hope denied and it was the truth. “It was her own fault. She shouldn’t have snooped in my room. I cast a protection spell on the painting _years_ ago, after the fire. It was the only one that survived and I didn’t want it to erupt in a _mysterious_ fire. I forgot about the spell.”

“She has lead poisoning, Hope.”

“The way I see it, she’s lucky that’s all she has.”

“That’s enough,” he warned.

Hope suppressed the urge to sigh big and loud. How many times could he make a speech like this? _Don’t be like your father, Hope, be better Hope, don’t give in to the darkness, Hope._ It was getting old; the emotional punch of her father’s name not quite having the same effect anymore. 

“Why is it that whenever we’re trapped inside a car you take the opportunity to lecture me? I know this already. Dad was the villain of your story. A lot of stories. Everyone hated him. It’s old news. I’m not him and he’s not me. He would’ve used her blood as paint. I let the paint run through her veins as blood. A great and non-deadly compromise against my biological instincts.”

“Non-deadly? Lead poisoning _is_ serious, Hope.”

“I’m sure she suckled some vampire blood and she’s all better.”

“That’s not the point.”

“What is the point?”

“You’ll find out if you let me finish.”

Surely there was enough stretch of green land on the way to Atlanta for Hope to ditch the SUV. Fields. Trees. Anything to obstruct the view of her wolf. “I reserve the right to run the rest of the way.”

“No chance,” Dr. Saltzman said, locking the doors as if she couldn’t blow the hinges off. “Even when he had the full force of a Mikaelson reunion, he didn’t accept that he wasn’t alone in the world. His perception of himself was the real reason for his isolation and anger and hatred.”

“Is this your way of saying he wasted his chance to let people in?”

“I’m saying the world can be lonely even when you’re surrounded by people who love you.”

“And the world can be even lonelier when you do let someone in and they up and leave.”

“That’s the risk everyone takes, Hope.”

“I hear you. Okay? Let’s not pretend that I don’t have probably hundreds of years to figure things out.” Hope scrubbed her face. “Can we drop it?"

“Isolation only lets in the negative. It will get darker and more twisted every day until you finally confront yourself, Hope, and I for one don’t want to see that confrontation if it’s left too late. Mikaelsons aren’t known for their control when they’re alone and that is why you’re the one here with me right now and nobody else.”

“You don’t trust me.”

“You’re picking and choosing what you want to hear.”

“And you’re deciding what should be the outcome of a conversation before we’ve even had it. I’m going to sleep. Don’t wake me until we get there.” She opened her eyes for one last comment. “You should know, Dr. Saltzman, the Salvatore brothers weren’t the only ones to keep detailed journals. My family might’ve been the villains in your story, but let’s not pretend they’re the only ones who crossed lines.”

One thing Hope learned over the years was how to kill a conversation. It came in handy, especially in situations like this when all she wanted to do was sleep. They spent the rest of the ride in silence. 

Instead of sleeping, she focused on the scent still attached to her person. She could smell vanilla and jasmine every time she breathed in. It was distracting, distracting enough for her to not fall asleep. She didn’t mind the smell. In fact, breathing had never come so easy. 

It didn’t take long for Hope to figure out that she and Dr. Saltzman weren’t alone in the car. At first, she’d assumed that Josie’s scent had lingered on her skin from being in her presence. She also had assumed that because she couldn’t hear another heartbeat in the car other than her’s and Dr. Saltzman’s that her mind screaming that they weren’t alone was wrong and paranoid.

But once she closed her eyes and concentrated, she could hear it, another heart beating perfectly in tune with hers. It explained the irrational speeding of her heart earlier before they left the school grounds and the sudden change of pace of her previously erratic heart. From thinking her heart was going to combust to thinking it would stop at a moment’s notice. Someone was controlling it, her heart. Normally the spell was used to calm someone down, like a werewolf on the verge of being consumed by rage or someone on the edge of a panic attack. 

But this spell use was clever, subtle. 

If only the person who cast the spell hadn’t been drunk. Otherwise, their plan would’ve gone off without a hitch. It had been perfectly maintained for thirty-five minutes, excluding the ten seconds in the beginning. 

Hope didn’t say a word. She’d already had one out with Dr. Saltzman. She didn’t need another argument within the confines of the car. 

Ten minutes out from the town Alaric pulled over to a gas station. It was always better to be prepared to leave a potential crime scene with a full tank of gas. She handed him ten dollars, continuing the ritual of him grabbing her a chocolate bar a few minutes before they reached the destination of their recruitment job. He grabbed the cash and hopped out of the car without a word and filled the tank. As soon as he made his way inside the building, Hope spun around and swiped her hand against the back of the car seat, and brushed her hand against warm skin. She gripped onto what she assumed was a wrist and still, the person refused to make themself visible. 

“Seriously, Josie?” Hope said, amused at the defiance. “We both know you’re there.”

“How?!” Josie exclaimed ‘popping’ into existence and snatching her arm back from Hope. “How did you know it was _me_? How did you know I was there at all? You might be all-powerful but you’re not all-knowing.”

“You’re forgetting two things—which is understandable seeing as you’re _drunk_.” Hope spun around in her chair and grabbed a bottle of water from her bag that had been shoved down by her feet. She handed Josie the bottle and the granola bar she’d stashed in there. Josie took them without argument. “One. You’re the only person who knew we were going and two; I’m part werewolf. I’m attuned to all the scents around me. Did you forget?”

There was silence, and then, “You know my scent?”

“I caught a whiff of beer back in my room,” Hope explained, deciding not to tell her about the perfume and lotion because that would’ve been weird. “You do know your dad’s going to kill you, right? He’s probably going to kill _me_ for not ratting you out straight away.”

“Why didn’t you?”

“I think I’ve come between you and your dad enough for today.”

“It’s not your fault. I was . . .” Josie sighed. “I shouldn’t have brought you into it.”

It was an apology without explicitly saying ‘I’m sorry.’ It was good enough for Hope. It’s not like Josie would remember this conversation in the morning. Because she had to be very damn drunk to sneak onto a recruitment job. A sober Lizzie doing something like this made sense. But Josie? No one could’ve predicted this. Sober Josie probably would’ve had a similar outlook.

“Another two things,” Hope said. “Drink the water. And siphon me.”

Josie struggled in twisting the cap off. Some of her fingers completely missed the cap. She narrowed her eyes and concentrated with full focus to twist the cap off. She eyed Hope as she drank from the bottle, pretending like that hadn’t destroyed her ‘not drunk’ theory. “You’re letting me come with you?”

“Do you even know where we’re going?” Josie shrugged. Hope snorted. “You’re going to invisique your drunk self again and you’re going to stay in the car.”

“I feel like I should say I’m not drunk.”

“Whatever you say.” Hope reached out and gripped Josie’s hand. Instead of the expected red glow, Josie blinked down at their hands as if she had no idea what to do with them. “Siphon,” Hope reminded her.

“ _That’s_ why you’re holding my hand. Right.”

Suppressing another snort, Hope watched as their hands glowed, illuminating the small space in the back of the car red. Dr. Saltzman’s telltale boots against pavement forced Hope to push Josie’s head down. 

“Invisible,” Hope said.

“Invisique,” Josie whispered obediently, immediately disappearing from view. Then she whispered, “Can you unwrap the granola bar?”

“Hand it here.”

Hope tossed the bar over her shoulder as Dr. Saltzman swung open the driver’s side door.

As to not make Josie’s dad suspicious, Hope timed it so every time Josie took a bite of the granola bar, Hope chomped into her chocolate bar.

The rest of the night would be interesting, to say the least.


	2. Chapter 2

Hope spent the next ten minutes of the car ride ignoring the exasperated glances Dr. Saltzman gave her. He really should’ve kept his eyes on the road, seeing as he was human and all. But then again, she was distracting him by chewing on her chocolate bar maybe a little too obnoxiously. She made sure her purposely elongated fangs crunched the ever-living shit out of her bar. It was one of those bars that had a sweet and gooey caramel in the middle. Without fail it gravitated to the corner of her lips.

It was safe to say Dr. Saltzman’s sighs bordered on growls of contempt.

Something was gratifying about chowing down on chocolate with no reservation. Prime animal instinct. Dr. Saltzman didn’t let her ‘wolf out’ as often as she’d like. He claimed that because she refused to join the school’s pack, that she didn’t need to increase tensions by making them jealous of her control. They didn’t care enough about her to be jealous. Anyway, she resorted to embarrassing moments like this every once in a while. Normally they were in private in the comfort of her room. This was a very rare exception.

But this time, one benefit of chewing without closing her mouth was masking Josie’s happy sighs as she dug into the granola bar Hope had given her. Hope played with the purple wrapper, crinkling it between her fingertips and rubbing it up against the ring on her finger.

All the annoying ticks led to the second thing she got out of chomping so enthusiastically. Dr. Saltzman was on the verge of getting his crossbow and shooting her in the chest. The pain would’ve been worth it. She slurped on the caramel like it was a milkshake. She’d have to try that. A caramel syrup covered milkshake. Maybe after they’d dealt with their business for the night. 

Normally Dr. Saltzman drummed his fingers against the steering wheel, anxious for the recruitment to begin and end. Tonight, his grip on the wheel kept getting tighter and tighter. His knuckles whitened to the point where his bones were sharp enough to puncture his skin. If Hope listened close enough, she could hear his old man bones cracking a little under the pressure he was exuding. The vein in his forehead throbbed so much that she was afraid it might burst at any given moment. A strand of his combed hair fell onto his forehead and his attempts of blowing it away failed. He blew harder and harder, the puffs becoming more exaggerated with each breath.

Suddenly his heart rate skyrocketed. He was about to snap.

The church that’d been searching for came into view at the end of the street, interrupting his momentary rage.

It was a small building made of grey stones that gave off old-timey vibes. In contrast to the ancient atmosphere, a skinny guy sat on the steps leading up the entrance. A black hood was up over his head and his focus was on the music blasting in his ears and whatever he was scribbling into the notepad. A poem? His feelings? A longwinded shopping list? Whatever he was immersed in, it retained his whole attention for now. He was most likely a harmless homeless. Or a kid with a guilty conscience seeking guidance from a religious faction.

It didn’t matter. Hope didn’t take any chances.

Dropping the last piece of her bar into her lap, she raised her hands, keeping her palms open, and pushed forward, and said, “ _Ad somnum_.”

The homeless kid crumpled in on himself. His forehead smacked against his notepad. Both the pen and notepad sailed down the steps where it eventually landed into a puddle. One of his earphones fell out of his ear and tangled in his messy and curly black hair. He was slumped over, so his head was on the pavement, neck twisted at an awkward angle, and the rest of his body laid lopsided, descending the steps.

Dr. Alaric pulled the SUV to a halt right next to the kid’s unconscious body. He leaned over Hope to see the kid out the window and grunted his disapproval.

“Really, Hope? Was that necessary?”

“No witnesses, remember?” Hope said.

“He’s a kid.”

“Those are your rules, Dr. Saltzman.”

“Since you know the rules, I shouldn’t have to say this. But I will. Unless I call for you, you’re to stay in the car and keep the engine running. Be prepared to hit the throttle.” He unbuckled his seatbelt and got out of the car. He held the door open just enough to peek inside. “Remember. You’re not my partner. You’re a card up my sleeve only in a dire situation. You’re my backup. The last resort. Don’t come inside the church unless I give you the go-ahead. Understood?”

“Am I supposed to pretend that I ever stayed in the car for longer than two minutes?”

He jabbed his index finger against the window, pointing at the driver’s seat. “Foot on pedal.”

He slammed the door shut. Hope rolled down her window and called out, “Do you even want to know how many people are inside? Because that seems like important information to know before you bust in.”

“I’ll figure it out!”

“Four! Excluding the homeless kid, there are four! A priest, the kid we’re tracking, and two adults.”

Dr. Saltzman opened the trunk and grabbed his crossbow. He headed inside, leaving the duffel bag in the back seat. It was a silent admission that he would need help at the very least trapping whoever was inside. He didn’t plan on her staying in the car for too long. If the kid was a werewolf, they had time. The moon was masked by the darkening grey clouds. If she had to guess, they probably had ten minutes before he started wolfing out.

Josie reverted to visibility as her father roamed up the steps to the church, boots carefully bypassing the limp person on the ground.

Inside the church, Dr. Saltzman tried reasoning with a priest, with a low, “Put down the cross, sir.”

Hope, content to listen in on the madness, climbed over to the driver’s seat slumped back into the headrest. She grabbed the remains of her chocolate bar and nibbled on the piece instead of ravaging it and preserving the bittersweet taste on her tongue. The priest was muttering something about preserving the soul of a guy called ‘Rafael.’

She’d almost forgotten Josie was in the backseat, having been too consumed by Alaric’s attempts at reasoning with the priest about how there were ‘no evil forces’ or ‘demons’ inside the teenager. The two other adults who Hope soon learned was Rafael’s foster parents were certain something was wrong with him. It’s not like they had a guide to dealing with supernatural children. They were doing what they thought was right with the resources they had available to them; even if that was a priest that specialized in exorcism and not a hospital.

Josie snapped Hope out of her thoughts and demanded Hope’s attention by leaning forward between the driver’s seat and passenger’s seat. She pointed a dramatic and wobbly finger in the direction of the church.

“You’re letting him go in by himself? What is wrong with you? What is wrong with him?” Josie hesitated. “You know what? It doesn’t matter. I’m going after him.”

Hope spun around and grabbed Josie’s wrist, keeping her in place. Josie tried pulling away, but it was no use. Hope was stronger. Hope was careful not to grip too hard. She didn’t want to leave bruises behind.

“Don’t make me use those chains on you.”

“You wouldn’t,” Josie challenged.

Josie was right. Of course, she wouldn’t actually do it. Chains seemed extreme. Especially since they were so heavy that they’d probably end up crushing the girl under its weight. Besides, Josie was a powered-up siphon witch. She could get out of them easily. What was something less extreme than chains, that could restrict Josie’s movements, without hurting her?

Knocking her out with a sleeping spell?

That seemed a little like crossing a line.

Distracting her? With what? Hope’s glowing small talk skills?

Fuck.

“I’ll do something,” Hope instead promised, glancing around until her gaze landed on her hand still firmly holding Josie’s wrist. Keeping a non-sober person away from a potential supernatural fight was too important for dignity. “Don’t test me because I will sit on you if you so much as move an inch.”

She could do that. She could crawl into the drunk girl’s lap and entrap her in some sort of awkward bear hug. Even if Josie was looking at her like she was some sort of easily flickable teddy bear and even if Josie was taller than Hope, the simple fact was, Hope was stronger. It wasn’t a magical entrapment, and it wasn’t some wolf chains. It was a warm body that meant no harm. That’s the best she could come up with.

When the silence stretched on too long, Hope was sure that Josie was about to attempt to dive out of the car but instead Josie cocked her head to the side, slid her gaze up and down Hope’s body, and bit her lower lip as if to suppress a laugh.

Which wasn’t great for the ego, but it was better than Josie trying to make a run for it.

“Hate to burst your bubble, Hope, but you’re tiny,” Josie pointed out as if the fact wasn’t one known to Hope.

“Size doesn’t matter,” Hope said, pressing her index finger in the middle of Josie’s forehead and sent her backwards back into her seat. “See?”

The amused expression fell away from Josie’s face and what replaced it made Hope’s heart pound. _Helplessness._ Her eyes cast downward, and her breathing was shaky. Her mouth turned into a full-on-pout. Josie crossed her arms and turned her head sideways, concentrating her focus out the window toward the church. The silence was palpable. But as much as Hope understood Josie’s worry, she couldn’t in good conscience let someone who wasn’t in their right mind go inside.

Even if that meant Josie hated her more than she already did.

Josie whispered, “Hope, he’s my dad. He’s my very human dad with a very human body going up against something dangerous by himself.”

“I understand.” Hope almost reached out to comfort her. But her hand didn’t make it past an all too subtle twitch. “I understand more than you can know. But he’s got this, Jo. You’ll see. He always does.”

“That’s the thing. Everything I’ve imagined about your trips has been wiped out in one fell swoop, Hope. Everything I thought I knew, the comfort I had, it’s gone. He lied to me. Every time he left the school he lied straight to my face. _You_ lied to me.”

“What are you talking about? Even if we did speak enough for me to lie to you, I _wouldn’t_ lie to you.”

“When he went away for days on end, I could breathe a little easier when you went with him. At least he wouldn’t be alone. I knew he’d never let anyone, never mind me and Lizzie join him but at least he’d be safe because you were there too. You wouldn’t let anything happen to him. But you’re in here. He could have help if he asked. He’s so stubborn about setting up interviews. I don’t understand him.”

This explained a few things. Whenever Hope walked out of class because of an impromptu recruitment call, Lizzie would glare daggers at her. Josie on the other hand would look at Hope with a carefully indecipherable expression for only a brief moment before reassuring her sister under her breath that ‘it was for the best.’ Hope thought that was to keep Lizzie from creating drama, that Josie was keeping her own resentment in check for the sake of keeping a lid on Lizzie’s anger.

Well emotions weren’t exactly linear, were they? Josie could’ve felt resentment beneath relief too.

“I always wondered why Lizzie made it such a big deal and you didn’t,” Hope said, not wanting to find out.

“Lizzie was right all along. I should’ve pushed back more because it is a big deal. Are you telling me all this time he’s been an idiot and scouting places by himself? Keeping you on the bench? Putting himself in situations alone when he doesn’t have to? What is wrong with him? Seriously. What is wrong with him? Has he been drinking again? Is he drunk? I thought he was swerving a little, but I thought that was my balance being screwed up.”

“He isn’t drinking. I’d know.” Hope tapped her own nose. “ _You_ on the other hand? You’re drunk. I bet I’m swerving a little, right? The only reason I’m inside this car—“

“Don’t say it’s because of me because I can handle myself,” Josie cut her off. “I’m not helpless. I’m a big girl. I can take care of myself.”

“I’m sure you can. I’m not in here because of you. Look around. We’re right outside the church. I could be in there in seconds. I can hear everything inside. He’s fine. Every time he told me to stay in the car, I never did, if it makes you feel any better. He knows I didn’t. He only tells me to stay behind to make himself feel better, to have it on record that he said it. I was in the shadows and waiting to help him when he needed it. But Jo, you got to remember, he’s been at this longer than we’ve been alive. He can take care of himself.”

“He’s not like you and me. One wrong move . . . He’s vulnerable. He wouldn’t admit it but he’s getting old.”

“He’s only a little grey.”

“I’m being serious, Hope.”

“Me too.”

Josie didn’t respond. Instead, she focused on taking deep breaths. Hope leaned the front of her body into the space behind the driver’s seat and grabbed the water bottle that had fallen to the floor. She handed Josie the half-drunk bottle of water and silently encouraged her to drink more. Hope didn’t pack any pain killers. In the future, she should, if not for herself, then for other people. It was an essentials bag after all.

When Josie’s heart picked up in pace and her breathing was uneven, Hope could feel the waves of anxiety crackling inside the space of the car.

Hope got out of the car and in a matter of seconds she was back inside but this time she sat in the back so she was right beside Josie. They didn’t touch. But they were close enough to feel the heat permeating from one another. Josie didn’t need a spell to time Hope’s beat in time with hers because Hope’s heart was doing a good job of doing it by itself. They raced in time with each other.

To be honest, Hope had little experience dealing with someone on the verge of a panic attack. She herself liked to be left alone. Complete and utter privacy and solitude. She’d liked to stretch out her limbs as long as she could across the length of her bed. She’d liked to feel the space around her, the cool bedsheets against bare legs, her hair tumbling down onto her widespread arms, and the crisp air from an ajar window. Sometimes she’d send waves of magic up and down her arms to feel something other than her throat closing in and her heart ramming itself against her chest.

But Josie was different. She curled in on herself, right into the corner next to the door. She had her gaze fixated in one spot on the back of the driver’s seat.

Hope didn’t invade her space more than she already had. Josie was curled up like if she physically held herself together, she wouldn’t lose it.

Information, or lack of information, was the foe here.

Hope could help with that.

“Let’s focus on right now. You want to know what’s happening? There’s a priest trying to exorcise demons out of a teenage boy. It’s nothing serious. We came as a precaution because it’s a full moon and he’s been a little unnaturally erratic. He’s probably a kid with anger issues so bad that his foster parents instantly thought demons must be inside him. Instead of taking him to therapy, or to a hospital, they went to some random priest. It’s your standard fake exorcism. I’ve seen the real deal. Trust me, this is nothing. You’ve got nothing to worry about.”

“You’ve seen an exorcism? You’re lying. You must be. There’s no such thing as demons. Is there? No. There can’t be.”

“Who said anything about demons?” Hope shrugged. “Why would I lie about that?”

“You’re trying to distract me,” Josie mumbled.

“Is it working?”

Josie was now looking at her, interest piqued, so it must’ve helped a little. “What happened?”

“I was nine and I astral projected to visit my dad. Thinking back, it was rude not to give him a head’s up. I was just so excited to see him, you know? He was covered in blood. It was all over him. Head to toe. I’d never seen so much blood before. Why would I have? It’s supposed to stay inside your body.”

“You were scared.”

“Shocked, I think. Anyway. The moment he turned around, one of his victim’s hearts in hand, he found little old me standing there, and I swear, his soul left his body for five seconds. Kind of like the souls of two dead bodies behind him. He got himself together and told me to get out. If that wasn’t an exorcism, I don’t know what is because I didn’t hear from him for years after that.”

“I’m sorry, Hope. That’s horrible. You shouldn’t have been exposed to something like that so young.”

“My point is. Nothing like that is happening inside the church. Dr. Saltzman is talking to the priest. The foster parents ran out the back door yelling about calling the cops. I’ll deal with them in a minute. The kid is crying. Very loudly. The people that should have protected him failed. He’ll remember this night forever. He’ll be haunted. I think . . . your dad doesn’t want you to see the true nature of the supernatural world because once you pop the bubble, there’s no going back, trust me. He wants to protect you for as long as he can.”

“I know. I know he does. He’s still an idiot, though.”

“I can’t disagree.” Alaric broke the silence by shouting for her help dealing with the runaway foster parents. “He’s calling for me. I’ve got to go.”

Josie wiggled away from the corner and firmly back into the middle seat. She took a giant bite out of her granola bar, seeming prepared to sit there and wait.

“But,” Hope began. “I think while his intentions might be in the right place, he’s not doing you any favors by keeping you in the dark. It’s one thing to protect you it’s another to keep you from being able to protect yourself. That’s dangerous. Especially when we’re in a school full of potential threats. Have you ever seen a wolf transformation before?”

“You never said anything about him _being_ a werewolf, Hope. You said he _might_ be.”

“Rule number one. Circumstances can change at a moment’s notice. Always be prepared. The moon is out now. He just started to change.”

“You’re bringing me with you? What about dad? What if he sees me?”

“Stay invisible and we shouldn’t have any problems. This is a preview, not an interactive mission. Feeling sober? You seem pretty much ‘all there’ now?”

“I think so.”

“Drink some more water and wait on the steps for me.” Hope opened the door but felt Josie’s frail fingers on her wrist.

Josie retracted her hand. “You know, I was sure you were going to talk about the Hollow for a second there.”

Hope paused, keeping her other hand on the car door, holding it open for Josie to climb out of. Dr. Saltzman and the rest of the school liked to whisper about her family. If it wasn’t in taught in classes, it was assigned for end of year group projects, sending swarms of kids into the library. If they saw her lose her cool for a second, they cringed away and talked about the infamous Mikaelson tempter. She’d grown used to it. But no one brought up the Hollow. There were rumors about what ended Elijah and Klaus Mikaelson but nothing as far she Hope knew, had been confirmed. She’d asked Dr. Saltzman not to put that particular piece of history on the school’s curriculum, not until after she’d left the school at the very least. True to his word he didn’t.

Hearing her dad’s name didn’t pack a punch anymore but the Hollow? She could feel it, her eyes flashing yellow, and a sensation akin to lava rushing through her veins. “That would’ve been a more appropriate comparison seeing as she invaded most of my family and me, huh? But I don’t like to think of that bitch much. Her exorcism cost me everything.”

Without so much of an argument, Josie muttered the _invisque_ spell under her breath and instantly she disappeared from sight. Hope reached out, leaving her open palm out, and once Josie connected them, Hope kept a hold of her and led her to the steps. With a command to stay put while she chased after the parents, she sped off around the church, nose in the air, tracking the scent of the runaways.

She found them at the back of the church where there was a car park. Their car’s engine was spluttering. They were yelling at each other to get their phones out. Hector, the man, his phone was dead. Maria’s hands shook too much to unlock her device. It took two seconds to knock them out. She stood in front of the car and a second later the man’s head slumped against the steering wheel and the woman brushed up against the window.

When she returned to the front entrance of the church, she grabbed the duffel bag from the back seat of the car and held it tight in one hand. She must’ve looked like an idiot with her free arm outstretched and roaming the air aimlessly. Her legs moving at a snail’s pace as she ascended the steps and over the unconscious body on the ground must’ve looked equally ridiculous.

Right as she was about to call out Josie’s name, her arm was gripped and was hooked in Josie’s arm. Hope led them up and into the church. She kicked down the door even though she could’ve turned the knob like a normal person but the animalistic growls inside called for a show of dominance.

Dr. Saltzman had the priest in a chokehold while the man was clawing at Dr. Saltzman's arms, attempting to fend off his assailant. The kid, Rafael was on his knees, heaving in deep and ragged breaths, his leg and arms twisted at awkward angles already.

“The foster parents?” Dr. Saltzman asked, lowering the nearly unconscious and gurgling priest to the ground.

“In the car park. Black Tesla. 16. Unconscious.”

Two things happened.

Hope dropped the duffel bag on the ground and kicked it down the aisle to where it stopped beneath Dr. Saltzman's boot. Hope positioned Josie in the seat furthest to the back of the church. Patting the invisible girl once on what she assumed to be her shoulder, Hope left her there and snatched the chain Dr. Saltzman threw her way. Together they connected it to the ground surrounding the newly turning wolf.

The one thing she despised about recruiting newly turned werewolves was, Dr. Saltzman liked to make it seem like the wolves weren’t alone in their new transitioned state. He didn’t want them to panic while being locked up.

Dr. Saltzman and Hope worked like clockwork, once they secured Rafael into the ground, Hope twirled her finger, prompting the teacher to swiftly turn around while Hope’s clothes dropped one by one from her body and onto the floor. She’d packed extra clothes in case of an impromptu change but she had enough time to take her clothes off without ripping them to shreds.

The moment Rafael turned into a black wolf, Hope stood as a white wolf, matching his roar with a voracious one of her own. Their in-sync reverberations made the long windows of the church shake and a few items trembled so much that they fell off the altar. While Hope stood on four legs, tall and secure, Rafael sank low to the ground, ears twitching and neck fully exposed in submission.

That’s what she hated most of all. It was also an initiation into the school. Wolves were headstrong, had strong wills, and their temper didn’t help matters when they were brought into a new environment full of other supernatural creatures. So as soon as Dr. Saltzman saw the difference in a wolf shown to be lower in the pecking order right from the get-go, and that they adjusted to school life and Jed’s pack much quicker, he decided that Hope should show them a hint at the hierarchy right away.

Rafael wasn’t trying to break out of the chains and his whimpers were low, but he was anything but calm. His frantic heartbeat gave him away. When she first turned her dad was there, encouraging her to give in, to let the pain, to allow it to swallow her whole. It gave her a sense of control, a consciousness. Rafael’s transition was quick and so she knew the wild look in his eye was all him and not the beast within.

“Good job, Hope, Jed shouldn’t have a problem helping him transition into the pack, should he stay at the school,” Dr. Saltzman praised. “Sit with him while I get the rest of this mess cleaned up.”

It was routine. He dealt with the witnesses. She kept watch on the wolf, making sure they didn’t escape, and making sure they were calm. Only this time when Dr. Saltzman left through the back entrance of the church, all of a sudden, all the candles inside lit up in one big gush. The only reason Hope knew Josie was right beside her was because of the floating water bottle right in front of her snout.

Hope nudged the invisible legs of Josie with her nose, moving her so Hope stood between Rafael and Josie. It was that movement that prompted Josie to make herself visible. Josie stood behind Hope’s right shoulder. She gripped the water bottle tightly and looked down at Hope with her finger wagging up and down.

“Is that you?” Josie whispered. “I mean, obviously it’s _you_ , but is it really you? Can you understand me?”

Hope’s head turned and bounced up and down in quick acknowledgement.

“Me and Lizzie never had a dog growing up, no matter how much we begged,” Josie told Hope. Josie’s eyes widened. “Not that I think you’re a dog. But what I’m trying to say is, your coat is nice and shiny. Can I touch it? Can I pet you or would that be weird?”

That would be _very_ weird.

But it was too late. Josie was scratching behind Hope’s ear and Hope was tilting her head to the side automatically to give Josie better access.

Every time Hope got a sense of ‘wait, this is weird’ Josie scratched just the right spot to make her forget again. Josie knew what she was doing. Hope had no doubt about it. There was a tiny pull to the corner of her lips and a slight twinkle in her eyes that thankfully weren’t tears.

Once Josie’s hand descended down to Hope’s chest and twirled a few strands of fur between her fingertips, Hope got her senses back and made good on a promise she’d made earlier that night. She managed to knock Josie down and once Josie was positioned on the floor, Hope crawled against the width of her body and laid her belly on top of Josie’s lap.

Josie was supposed to have stayed at the back of the church. 

Hope wasn’t so tiny then.

As if reading her mind, Josie said, “This isn’t fair and you know it.”

Hope let out a huff and let her head fall in-between her paws, slightly embarrassed that Rafael was witness to how easily she could be subdued. _Domesticated._ But at least his heart rate had calmed down significantly. He saw them. One teenage girl turned wolf; one previously invisible teenage girl visible. They weren’t monsters there to kill him.

Josie stretched one arm out and grabbed the pile of clothes Hope had ditched on the floor. She placed them on Hope’s back and began folding each article of clothing one by one.

“So, every new wolf recruit sees you naked?” Josie asked conversationally.

Could this be any more embarrassing? What was Hope thinking by allowing Josie to come inside? Josie got to see how safe her father was. She got to see how easy it was to apprehend a wolf when you had the right equipment. Sure, Josie was also happy as a clam right now, calm, and distracted from her earlier panic, but she was also poking at Hope while Hope couldn’t respond and defend herself.

Hope being too caught up in her embarrassment and the dawning realization that some of the wolves she’d brought in could remember her naked, was too preoccupied to hear Dr. Saltzman barge his way inside the church again. It was only when he knocked two candles off the alter and let out a shocked ‘What the Hell?’ that Hope regained her composure and rose her head to face him.

The candles rolled down the steps leading up to the altar and the edges of the carpet stretched down the center of the aisle caught on fire.

“Josette Olivia Saltzman,” Dr. Saltzman said, storming down the steps.

“Dad,” Josie said warily. “I can explain.”

“Explain? Explain how you’re here right now? Because last I checked you were in your bedroom before we left and you were fast asleep.”

“It was a pillow,” Josie murmured and said, “ _extinguere_ ,” while waving her hand, stopping the fire right before it reached the bottom of her dad’s jeans.

“Josie,” he sighed. “Why are you here?”

Josie’s hands found themselves wrapped in the fur of Hope’s neck. “I’m helping,” she said, and then hiccupped. “Ow?! That was sore.”

“You . . .” He ignored the two wolves in the room and walked over until he stood in front of his daughter and the white wolf still stretched across her lap. He gripped Josie’s chin and tilted her head up until they were eye level. “You’re drunk.”

“ _Invisque_ ,” Josie muttered, disappearing so it looked like Hope was doing some weird wolf stomach work out in the middle of the church.

“That doesn’t get you out of this mess.” Dr. Saltzman tried catching Hope’s eye but she was determined in keeping her eyes locked on her target. Rafael.

“Raf! I think I was mugged? Joke’s on them, I had nothing to steal but _man_ , my head—” Hope turned her head and saw the homeless kid. Stood there, one hand curled at the back of his head, mouth agape. “Uh—”

“ _Ad somnum_ ,” Josie said, and for the second time the kid fell unconscious but this time he walloped into the back of a seat.

“Seriously?” Dr. Saltzman said.

Josie tried smiling. “See? Helping?”

“You’re going ‘help’ by marching yourself back into the car and you’re going to look up motels in this area. Most important of all, you’re going to stay put and stay quiet.”

Hope rolled off Josie’s body, allowing the girl to stand up. If it weren’t for the floating water bottle and the faint footsteps, they wouldn’t have known that she’d left. And if the water bottle didn’t help, the slamming of the church’s door amplified her whereabouts.

“And you—” Dr. Saltzman said, turning to Hope. “Transform back. Get changed and prepare to set a boundary spell for Rafael here. It’s going to be a long night.” He narrowed his eyes down the aisle. “Isn’t that the same person you knocked out? I think we need to bring that kid to the hospital.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, I wasn't expecting such a big response from the first chapter. Thanks to everyone that commented! It really spurred me to write this chapter. It looks like I'll be keeping around the 5k word update range. 
> 
> Also...did anyone see 3x01? Ooof. Not to spoil anything but.... 'A non-consensual kiss is never the answer.'


	3. Chapter 3

According to Dr. Saltzman, his daughter’s unsolicited tag along threw a wrench in his plans for the night. They could no longer head back to the school before the morning light. 

Even if they did wait until the wolf changed back to human form, Dr. Saltzman in good conscience couldn’t keep a newly transitioned werewolf and his daughter in such a confined space for a prolonged length of time. Five minutes was too much, never mind a whole forty-five. 

Once Josie slammed the church door behind her, Dr. Saltzman turned to Hope and barked out orders like he expected Hope to disagree with his decision about prolonging their stay in Atlanta for the night. 

But she didn’t so much as open her mouth. 

How could she argue? Over-protective father or not, he was in the right; Josie’s safety came first. It’s not like Hope had anywhere else to be other than her bed back on campus.

That didn’t mean his demands weren’t a little ironic. The irony being, she’d had the same argument with him before, pointing out that him, a human, driving with recently kidnapped (or rescued, depending on the context) argumentative and scared supernatural creatures was generally bad practice. She had a feeling if she pointed out this double standard again, she’d be in for another one of those infamous Mikaelson lectures. Or he’d put two and two together about the fact that she knew Josie had come along and the fact that Hope hadn’t said a word. He’d figure it out eventually. 

Simply put, she wasn’t in the mood to deal with the fallout. So, she remained quiet and got on board the good foot-soldier position without argument and helped him with arrangements for the night.

Dr. Saltzman carried the unconscious human teenager into the trunk of his SUV with no help from Hope. He wasn’t exactly a tall or heavy looking guy. The professor could handle it. She was too busy transporting the priest into the car. As she clipped on his seatbelt, she noted the beginning of bruising coating the guy’s neck in one long stretch of pink along his trachea. 

Sometimes she wished Dr. Saltzman would let her knock witnesses unconscious right away with an easy to whip up sleeping spell. It would be less traumatic for everyone involved that way. But for some reason, he liked to do things by himself first. Which never amounted to anything remotely productive until she came along. 

One day she’d be too late and then where would they be? Him dead, and everyone hating her more than they already did.

Josie had a right to be nervous.

Hope hated that.

Shaking herself out of her spiraling thoughts, she went back to the car park for Rafael’s foster parents. She dumped their bodies side by side into the back of the SUV and managed to secure them in with their seat belts buckled before Dr. Saltzman even made it down the church’s steps. 

The curly-headed kid Dr. Saltzman carried could’ve wedged in the passenger seat instead of the trunk if Josie hadn’t come along for the night. At least he had space to spread out a little inside the trunk.

Ever since Josie walked out of the church, she’d given Hope the silent treatment. She stubbornly remained invisible in the passenger seat. She’d found the second granola bar Hope had stuffed in her bag and didn’t even offer Hope half. It was weird to see the bar mid-air, disappearing one chomp at a time, and not being able to do anything to stop it. Hope could’ve swiped the bar but she had a feeling brawling it out with the Saltzman twin over food would’ve sent Dr. Saltzman into a blind rage.

Josie’s silence worked just fine for Hope. She didn’t plan on speaking to Josie either. Josie had come too close to Rafael. She had put herself in front of Hope while she was wolfed out. Sure, Hope had complete control, but Josie didn’t know that. Hence the mutual silent treatment. It didn’t help that Hope should’ve known better than to allow Josie into the church in the first place. Hope just wanted the girl to stop worrying so much about her dad. She wanted her to see that Hope had no problems keeping him safe. But now Hope wasn’t so sure.

Dr. Saltzman’s mood didn’t fare much better than the girls. He closed the trunk with an almighty wallop. His anger or disappointment, or whatever it was that had him grinding his teeth suffocated the atmosphere. 

“You don’t need to take him to the hospital.” Hope broke the tense silence. She held up her wrist and let the nail on her index finger on her other hand elongate. “Give him some of my blood. Or get your vampire friend to give him blood and compel everything away at the same time. Dropping him off at the hospital leaves a paper trail. We don’t want that.”

“Don’t start, Hope,” he said. “Because trust me, I’m not in the mood.”

“Neither am I,” Hope agreed. “It’s a minor concussion at best that will only cost him a fortune in a hospital when he can get a quick and free fix right now.”

“Human problems get human fixes.”

“Not when they’re caused by supernatural means.” Hope rested a hand against the trunk. Her fingers curled around, brushing against the unlock button. “Did he look like someone who can afford medical care to you? He can’t even afford a decent notepad. Look at it. It’s in pieces.”

“It’s sopping wet, Hope. Doused in dirty puddle water.”

“A decent notepad would have at least a waterproof cover.”

“You’re not being serious?”

“It’s the little details that count, Dr. Saltzman.”

“Listen to me, Hope,” Dr. Saltzman said, his voice deep and serious. “Rafael has no choice but to turn every full moon. It’s genetic. But if we give this kid blood and leave and he ends up dying and turning into a bloodthirsty creature, that’s on us. We will not place that burden on a kid, not when it’s not essential to his survival. Do you hear me?”

The challenge in his eyes made her not want to comply right away. She maintained eye contact while considering the magnitude of what he said.

Who was to say her blood would turn him into a vampire? She could make hybrids, yes, but she never tested her blood on a human before. In theory, it should work. It would be strange, turning humans into vampires before she herself was one. The first of her vampire sire line could in theory be a vampire longer than she was. 

It’s probably something she should test. With a willing participant of course. She wanted to help the teenager, not put him under experimentation and fuck up his entire life. Even if the likelihood of him dying after their interaction was below zero. Regardless, the homeless kid would not be the first human to taste her blood.

“I hear you. I hurt him, so I’ll cover the bill,” she said and when he gave her an unimpressed look, she continued, “Anonymously.”

“Good.” He opened the driver’s side door and kept his hand on the handle. “You’ll have to stay at the church for the night. I’m leaving Rafael in your care. You wanted more responsibility? Here’s your chance. Create and maintain the boundary spell. Make sure he doesn’t leave. When he transforms back to human, only then can you knock him out. I’ll call you when Josie and I check into the motel. Other than that, we’ll see you in the morning bright and early.”

“Babysitting is not what I meant by responsibility.”

“We can’t exactly transport him in his state and you’re the only one that can keep him locked up.” Dr. Saltzman whacked his hand against her shoulder. “Besides, I need to have a one-on-one chat with my daughter.”

There was a clear and deliberate cough from the passenger seat that spiraled into a sputtering and choking noise, which in turn, forced Dr. Saltzman to lean into the car and try aiming for the back of his daughter to whack. The first attempt whacked the back of her head.

Dr. Saltzman got inside the SUV and drove away. First, he was going to drop his daughter at the motel a few blocks from the church so she could sort only them two out rooms for the night. Alaric was meeting up with his vampire friend who had originally called in the tip about Rafael. The friend was going to compel away the witnesses’ memories of the night. Then Dr. Saltzman planned to drop off the human kid at the hospital and head back to the motel for the night.

Hope on the other hand was stuck at the church watching over Rafael alone. She should’ve napped in the car while she’d had the chance.

Using a boundary spell, salt being the binding agent, Hope spread the salt carefully in a circle around the wolf and the chains implanted into the floor.

The wolf had taken to short snoozing bursts, with one front large paw overlapping the other. His droopy eyes followed her as she spread the salt on the floor around his body. He was a predator in wait. Other than the whole foster parents trying to exorcise demons out of him thing, his transformation as far as first times went was actually tame. It was without bloodshed or mayhem. Of course, it was emotionally scarring and traumatic, and probably therapy worthy, but it could’ve gone worse.

* * *

An hour went by with no updates on her phone from Dr. Saltzman. She paced between the aisles and the seats, gliding her fingers across the smooth wood of the benches. Where she went, the wolf tracked with his eyes until she was at the top of the church near the altar. That’s when his gaze dropped to the floor. 

“You’re probably not going to remember any of this. Most people don’t remember their first turn. It’s too traumatic. The stress of the mind and the body with such an unforgiving and relentless force?” Hope settled onto the second last step leading to the altar. “The pain can be too much.”

It was called a curse for a reason. The Hollow’s motivation for creating the curse was one born out of revenge. She might’ve been the most wicked, ruthless, and remorseless witch to ever exist, but the fact was, she was murdered by her own mother. It was only fitting that the curse she cast using the power of her death was only activated once a wolf in their human state took a life. 

It was almost poetic. Fucked up beyond belief. She’d know, being on the receiving end of the Hollow’s desire for power. But poetic, as most powerful witchcraft was. 

Being a werewolf was a punishment. A cosmic retribution. The seemingly unending agony, the twisting, and breaking of bones, and the beast within who once broke to the surface lived to consume humans or their natural enemy the vampire. And then came the unwavering guilt once you woke up naked somewhere you weren’t supposed to be. Blacking out the night or remembering all too well the horror you caused. She’d heard all the stories. They weren’t pleasant. 

Rafael was what you could say was unnaturally calm. It could’ve been due to submission; it could’ve been the fact that they were on holy ground and he wanted to be respectful. Whatever it was, she was glad she didn’t have to put up with him trying to break out of his chains left right, and center. But now he was behind her boundary spell so even if the chains broke, it didn’t matter anymore. He was trapped until she let him go.

Beneath his docile temperament, he must’ve been scared.

“I had the advantage of knowing who I was and what would happen to me. It hurt just the same but I can only imagine what it would’ve been like if it was sprung on me out of nowhere.” She caught the wolf’s eye and offered an attempt at a reassuring smile. “That’s why we’re here.”

“They see you naked _and_ they get deep and philosophical conversations?” 

Josie’s voice came out of nowhere and startled Hope; not that she’d ever admit to that. Her smile froze on her face. She’d been too hyper-focused on her thoughts that she’d been unaware of her surroundings. Which was something incredibly stupid of her while out on a job. A lot of things she did that night were stupid and more importantly, they were reckless.

“All part of the job description,” Hope answered, attempting to sound unaffected by Josie’s sudden appearance, and picking at the black paint on one of her nails. She muttered under her breath, “Even if I’m not paid for my labor.”

“Where is Hope Mikaelson and what have you done with her?”

Hope glanced over her shoulder to see Josie in all her visible glory. She was eye level with one of the candles on the altar’s desk, body leaned over, elbows propped against the said table, one hand pressed against her cheek, and the other hovering over the candle’s flame. Tendrils of her loose ponytail had come loose, hanging dangerously close to the small blaze.

She was too enraptured and way too settled looking for her to just have appeared. 

“How long have you been there?” Hope asked.

“I came through the back,” Josie said, blowing softly on the candle so the flame flickered, softly weaving in and out, on the brink of disappearing.

“That doesn’t answer my question.”

“I think it does.” Josie peered down at her, the reflection of the candle light dancing in her eyes. It distracted Hope enough to not follow up with the obvious lie. “I pictured you knocking out witches, chasing down vampires, and pinning werewolves into submission while my dad occasionally shot his crossbow.”

Hope positioned herself sidewards on the steps so she had a clear view of both Josie and the wolf she was supposed to be watching alone for the night. “It happens more than you’d think. We were lucky tonight. We caught him on time. It could’ve gone a lot worse.”

Josie nodded absentmindedly, drawing a finger around the flicker of light. “No one talks about it at school. They don’t mention you whenever someone asks them the story of how they came to be at the Salvatore school. They only mention my dad. Why is that? I always found that so strange.”

Drunk Josie sure was curious. “A lot of reasons,” Hope said.

“Don’t be so . . . so mysterious.”

“I’m being vague. There’s a difference.”

“You’re always mysterious,” Josie argued. “You are the definition of mysterious.”

Hope disagreed. She was quiet. She didn’t speak unless she had something to say. But right now, she was being vague. 

“Isn’t it obvious why they don’t mention me?”

“Why?” Josie persisted. “If it’s so obvious you won’t have a problem telling me.”

Hope laid one finger on the palm of her hand. “The few witches we recruit normally embrace the help. Nothing special goes on there except the occasional ‘You’re a Wizard, Harry’ moment or two. There’s mostly tears of relief that they’re not crazy or alone.”

“That has been the general consensus,” Josie agreed. 

“Vampires,” Hope said, placing a second finger on her palm. "Especially the ones who pigged out on blood with no restraint, they probably feel guilty and don’t like to think about the fact that I saw them in that state. I can’t blame them. I’m a reminder of the worst time in their lives.” Hope ticked off the third finger. “And the werewolves are probably too prideful to admit they were taken down so easily. Maybe they’re scared of me. I don’t know. I don’t care to know anymore. Everyone has their reasons.”

“It’s a personal experience,” Josie noted softly.

“They’re supernatural teenagers who we find more often than not in extremely vulnerable positions,” Hope agreed. “It makes sense they’d keep it private.”

Who better to be discreet than someone who has no one to tell anything to? 

Hope was practically made for the job.

“You know what doesn’t make any sense? Dad’s the fighter, and you’re the smooth talker. Who would’ve guessed?”

“That’s not exactly our dynamic . . .” 

That wasn’t a fair representation at all. 

“You know what else is funny?” Josie cut her off, standing up straight. She grabbed the candle she’d been focused on, gently cupping it in both hands. She rounded the table as she spoke, “I hear the wolves every full moon. The way they scream and writhe and the way they howl into the night. They’re never calm. They’re never this quiet. But he is.” Josie stopped before the steps and nodded toward the wolf. “He is because of you.”

“We’ve found a few on the night of the full moon. I like to think their transition isn’t as shocking this way. They have time to relax without someone hurting them and without giving them the opportunity to hunt any living thing. I know I wouldn’t like it if I were knocked out mid-shift and woke up at a school that I didn’t ask for without remembering how I got there and wondering if I killed anyone.”

“Why do you care? It’s not like they remember. Do they? Otherwise, the pack wouldn’t hate . . .” 

The last of her sentence trickled off into a silence that would’ve ended with ‘ _you_.' 

_The pack wouldn’t hate you._

Hope almost felt sorry for her.

A hint of guilt crept over Josie’s face. She brought her lower lip into her mouth and released it with a slow pop and cast her gaze to the candle in her palms. Her regret was not enough to backtrack or retract her insinuation. Why would she? She didn’t imply anything but the truth. 

“You can say it. Everyone hates me,” Hope finished for her easily. “I’m not without empathy. They might not remember the exact details but they’ll remember what they felt. They feel safer at the school as a result and their transition into the pack is easier on them when they feel safe. I’m invested in the prosperity of the school.”

“I can see why Jed doesn’t want you in his pack.”

“I’m sure there’s a long list of reasons why he wouldn’t want me in the pack.” Hope scoffed at the thought. Whether it be her family involved in the murder of some of their family members or her failed attempt at helping out a wolf and making him a hybrid. “We would be here all night if we were to keep track of every damning reason.”

Josie’s eyebrows screwed up, pausing on the last step. “Hope . . .”

“But that’s not going to happen because you shouldn’t be here. Why aren’t you at the motel?”

“That’s not what I meant. I didn’t mean—”

“You did. It’s fine. I’ve heard it all before,” Hope cut her off. “You should go back to the motel. Go get some sleep while you can. It’s been a long night.”

Frustration made the flame swell so it grazed the tip of Josie’s finger. She retched her hand back and pinned Hope with a challenging stare. “What happened to this being a preview? Isn’t this also part of the preview?”

“You interacted, Josie. I said it wasn’t an interactive mission and you ignored me. You moved from your spot. You exposed yourself to your dad, to the threat. Rafael may look calm but come too close and he’ll bite your head off and rip your body to shreds without a second of hesitation. Lesson number two. A wolf on the full moon is unpredictable. You came up to me like I wasn’t a damn wolf and put yourself in danger. You were reckless.”

By the end of Hope’s speech, her arms were crossed and her nails dug through her hoodie and onto the skin on her upper arms. Anything could’ve happened and it would’ve been all Hope’s fault. Anything could still happen.

“Are you embarrassed?” Josie asked, both eyebrows raising. “Is that what this sudden weirdness is? You were fluffy, okay? You were wagging your tail so fast my hair moved! Let’s not make this weird. I pet you and you seemed to like it. It’s natural that your legs kicked. It means I was doing it right. There’s nothing to be embarrassed about.”

Yes, there was.

But that wasn’t the point.

“You’re not listening. The condition of our agreement was broken. I can’t trust you. You can’t stay here. It’s my fault. You’re drunk. I shouldn’t have expected you to act rationally. Don’t worry. I’ll let your dad know who the blame should fall on. You shouldn’t get in trouble for my lapse in judgment.”

The silence that surrounded them boarded on uncomfortable but Hope wasn’t going to apologize for what she said and Josie wasn’t going to apologize for overstepping her bounds either if her scrunched up nose was anything to go by. Josie folded first. She spun around, headed back up the steps, and left the candle on the altar. She paused for a moment as if considering giving Hope a piece of her mind. But instead, she stormed into the back room where presumably the priest prepared before his ceremonies, leaving Hope for the second time that night alone with the wolf.

Hope plucked her phone from her hoodie pocket and searched for available taxi services in the area.

This time Hope was more than aware of Josie’s every move. She wasn’t invisible but she was still there and right behind the door. From the way her hair moved up and down her shirt and her shoes collided with the hardwood floor. Every inhale and exhale, her body demanding control of her slightly increased heartbeat. The ruffling of what sounded like plastic bags. The sound of hollow plastic whacking against something hard like metal. If Hope focused enough, she could hear the sound of Josie’s fingers rubbing against something made of glass. 

Individually, she wouldn’t have given the sounds a second thought but all of them together? Something was amiss. 

Right as Hope stood up and went to go investigate, Josie charged out of the room again. Her hands were occupied by one shopping bag from a local twenty-four-seven store and the other held a bottle of wine. She swung her arms back and forth with an all too self-satisfied grin. She dumped the bags on the altar, not caring that items fell from her bag, too preoccupied with gulping back wine like it was water. Hope made her way up to the table and played with the cloth’s tendrils hanging over the edge of the wood. 

“Dad said to get our rooms sorted at the motel and I did,” Josie said in a way as if to say; See? She could be trusted. “I know he said you needed to stay here for the night but if you’re working with my dad for free, and you’re expected to go to class tomorrow, the least he can do is give you a bed to sleep in for the night. I don’t see any beds around here but don’t worry, I came prepared.”

Hope remained frozen on the other side of the table, facing Josie, and eyed each item Josie presented. A leash, a dog squeaky toy, a pink pig stuffed animal, and a dog bowl.

“You do realize werewolves aren’t oversized dogs, right?” Hope eventually said.

“I know that.”

Hope raised an eyebrow, prodding at the squeaky toy. “Do you?”

“I would’ve said you were more dog than wolf when you sat on me, begging me for more attention.”

“It was a show of dominance,” Hope lied. “I could’ve crushed you.”

“How do you explain the happy tail wagging?”

“Hmm? What?” Hope played dumb. “I’m sorry, my wolf memories are a blind spot for me.”

“Liar.” Josie held up the leash. “If we’re going to sneak Rafael down the street to the motel, he needs to look like a dog. I won’t even fight you on who walks him.”

“Oh, that’s nice of you.” Hope snatched the leash from Josie’s hand and held it taut, so taut that it snapped in two. “Are you crazy? Who said anything about us going back to the motel together? With a werewolf? On a full moon? If you’re that determined that I go back, I can wait until he’s human. It shouldn’t be too long now. Trust me. It’ll be far easier that way.”

“Don’t you get it? When he’s human he’s not going to willingly come with us, Hope.”

“I’ll knock him out. Problem solved.” 

“Hmm. Let’s see. What’s stranger; a teenage girl walking a slightly large dog or a teenage girl carrying a six-foot, bulky and probably an unconscious guy?” Josie posed the question, cocking her head to the side. She had Hope with that one. It’s not like Hope had the SUV to shove his body into. “You’re not saying anything because you know I’m right.”

"We don’t need to entertain either of those options,” Hope decided. It’s not like the church was a bad place to crash for the night. Josie had lit all the candles so there was a nice yellow glowing ambience. It was spacious. What more could a girl want? “Rafael and I can stay here for the night. It’s no big deal. Even your dad thinks so otherwise, he wouldn’t have left me here. You should go back to the motel before your dad comes back. He’s already angry enough as it is. Don’t give him another reason.”

“He’ll be angrier if you don’t use the extra room I rented with his card.”

“I have a feeling he’ll disagree with you on that,” Hope muttered. Josie brought the pink pig to her chest and was on the cusp of a smile. It’s not like Hope could let Josie walk back to the motel by herself anyway. She didn’t trust her enough to stay in the taxi either. “Fine. But just so you know, you wasted your money on the collar and leash and the room.”

“It’s fine, it’s my dad’s money.”

Hope raised a finger and eyed the bottle Josie took a sip from. “One question before we leave.”

“Just one.”

“The wine that’s secreting from your pores? How did you manage to convince the teller to sell you it?”

“There’s a perfectly reasonable and logical explanation for that,” Josie claimed.

“Oh yeah? What’s that?”

“I swiped it from the priest’s stash.”

“Of course, you did,” Hope muttered.

She held her hand out with the bottle. “Want some?”

“No thank you.”

“Suit yourself.” Josie dumped everything back into her plastic bag and looped the strap over her arm so she could use one hand to carry the wine bottle and the other to snatch the candle she’d stared at from the altar. “You’re judging me.”

Hope’s eyebrows were indeed high in her forehead. “You’re stealing not only more than likely blessed wine from a church but a candle too. You’ve stooped low, Josie Salzman.”

“I can stoop lower, believe me.” Before Hope could respond, Josie nodded to the wolf. “I’ll be waiting outside while you figure out how to walk him safely.”

“You’re not going to help?”

Josie hopped down the steps from the altar and called over her shoulder, “Where’s the fun in me doing everything?”

It was only when Josie walked down the aisle and reached the exit that Hope noticed something she definitely should’ve before.

“Wait,” Hope called.

“Can’t back out now!” Josie said, but leaned her back against the door and waited.

“It’s not that.” Hope pulled her hoodie off in one swoop while she walked toward the girl. When she was close enough, she threw the hoodie across her shoulder and grabbed the wine and the bag from Josie. She pushed her shoulder out and toward Josie, offering it to her. “Put this on.”

“What about you?”

“Don’t worry about me.”

“You’re wearing a tank top, Hope,” Josie pointed out, and then muttered, “A very thin one.”

“I appreciate the concern. But I’m fine, trust me. Don’t make me put it on for you because I will.”

Josie took the hoodie from her and eyed it in her hands. Her fingers traced the yellow paint on the ridge of the sleeve before she pulled it over her head. Whereas it was oversized on Hope, it fit Josie perfectly. The sleeves weren’t too long and while it might’ve been baggy around the center, at least it didn’t hang below her hips. 

Josie nodded once in thanks, adjusted the hood on her head, and stepped outside the church, leaving Hope to wonder how Josie managed to convince her to go along with this ridiculous plan of hers.

When Hope turned around and faced the wolf, he stood up on four legs and bared his teeth. Whether it was a grin or a show of his sharp assets posing as a threat, she wasn’t sure, but what she knew with absolute certainty was, she wasn’t taking any chances. She held up her hand, murmuring, “ _Corporis impetus_ ,” so the wolf froze on the spot. She walked around the dark wolf, taking in his demeanor, stature, and build, and went through all the possibilities in her head of walking this wolf down the street.

Losing her grip and the wolf chomping away at Josie.

The wolf eating random civilians.

Him transitioning back to his human form in the middle of the street and making a scene while being stark naked. Hope wasn’t a prude. But if she could help not seeing that she would.

She unlocked one chain from its hold on the floor and looped it around his neck again and again until it was like a scarf. She tied a knot, making sure it couldn’t come loose. She gripped the remainder taut and pulled until she was sure the chain reinforcement spell still worked. She kicked the salt, disrupting the boundary spell, allowing the wolf out. 

She led the shockingly eager wolf down the aisle. She lapped around inside the building first, testing her control of the wolf. Once or twice, he tried bounding away from her grip but she’d looped the chain around her wrist and between her fist. All she had to do was stand firm, brace her arm, and the wolf yanked back. The more that happened the more dramatic his panting became.

One thing she noted with surprise; he only once thought about attacking her directly. He stopped when her eyes flashed golden. A reminder of the wolf she’d been and could easily turn into again.

Outside the church, Josie sat on the same steps that had an unconscious body earlier in the night. She stood up and balked at Hope as if this wasn’t all her idea. 

“You are walking on the other side of the street,” Hope said before Josie could get in a word.

“Fine,” Josie said with a roll of her eyes. Once on the other side of the road she cocked her head to the side and called out, “Happy?”

“Lead the way!”

“Can I just say one thing?”

“One thing,” Hope agreed.

“Can I borrow your phone?”

“Why?”

“No reason!”

“You want to take photos.” Hope jangled the chains, encouraging the wolf to trot alongside her. “No way in hell.”

“No one will ever believe this,” Josie muttered but Hope heard her. 

“You won’t even remember this,” Hope said quietly but firmly in return. “Just walk already!”

* * *

The twenty-minute walk wasn’t all that bad. Other than the occasional howls and Josie tripping over herself every so often, Hope couldn’t have hoped for a better under the moonlight walk. It was easier once they made it out from under the streetlights and walked along the main road into what looked to be the middle of nowhere.

The motel wasn’t anything to write home about, at least not from the outside. It was composed of what looked like six white and brown semi-detached houses. Going to a motel was like eating a microwaved meal, seriously underwhelming but cheap and available. Once they made it to the car park, Josie tried tossing Hope a set of keys from twenty feet away. Tried behind the keyword. They slipped out of Josie’s hands at an awkward angle and ended up tossed behind her and onto the road.

“I’ll get them, you go inside and stay put,” Hope said.

Hiding a yawn behind her hand, Josie nodded in quiet agreement and stumbled her way into the second room available. Hope gathered the keys that had the number five on them from the road and made her way into the motel room. The moonlight had shrunk leaps and bounds as they’d walked so it was only a matter of minutes before the guy changed back. As soon as she unlocked the door she led the wolf onto the bed and froze him in place. She went inside the bathroom and got the less than clean bathrobe hung up on the back of the door and brought it into the bedroom. 

She sat on the chair in the corner of the room and waited. Her eyes closed for a moment and the next thing she knew grunts came from the bed. Rafael was back, frozen and scared out of his wits. And before he could ask questions, she knocked him out with a sleeping spell and dumped the bathrobe on top of his naked body. 

“ _Claudo te_.” Hope sealed the room before heading to Josie’s room to get her key for her motel room. She knocked on the door softly. In seconds the door swung open. Josie stood on the other end of the door, cocooned in the bedcovers. “Sorry, I just need my room key and I’ll be out of your hair.”

“About that,” Josie said, waddling over to the only double bed in the room. She hopped back onto the mattress and wiggled her way into the center of the bed.

“Here we go,” Hope muttered.

“When I said I got an extra room,” Josie trailed off.

“You didn’t.”

“No, I did, but it was for Rafael. You have a choice to make. You can share with Dad in room three or go back to Rafael.”

“Okay.” Hope was too tired to argue. She opened the motel door and called over her shoulder, “I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Or the third option, you can stay here,” Josie said, making Hope pause.

“You’re nice for offering,” Hope said.

“I’m not being nice. I’m being serious. I offered you a bed to sleep in for the night and it’s not like you’re going to share with my dad and you’re probably not going to kick the wolf out of the bed which is where I’m assuming you left him?”

“He can sleep in the tub,” Hope confirmed Josie’s assumption. 

“You’ll be sleeping on dog hair."

Hope paused. “I’ll sleep without the covers. It’s fine. I don’t get cold.”

Josie unrolled herself from the blanket and struggled to make it out from beneath. She soon gave up and exhaled, ready to accept her fate trapped in the wooly duvet. Which prompted Hope to help her lest she suffocate herself. Hope flipped the duvet so it covered the entirety of the bed with Josie’s body, with the exception of her head, snuggled beneath.

“Sleep here,” Josie offered again.

“You’re not going to stop asking are you?”

“Probably not.”

“Fine.”

“Your bag is on the chair,” Josie said, slumping over and curling herself into a ball. 

This was her plan all along. 

Hope rolled her eyes and grabbed the duffel bag and headed inside the bathroom to change and brush her teeth. The only reason Hope agreed to stay was that Josie needed someone around just in case she started choking on her vomit in her sleep. If Hope opted to stay with Rafael she’d probably would’ve made her way into Josie’s room to check in on her anyway. This way, there was less hassle. 

She’d just have to leave early in the morning to bring Rafael back to the church before Dr. Saltzman found out how stupid she’d been. He’d never let her leave the school again if he found out what happened tonight.

Adorning in red and black plaid pants, Hope headed back into the room. Before she flicked off the lights, she eyed the bottle of wine on the bedside table and noted how it was only half full. 

Josie must’ve taken her hair tie off while Hope was in the bathroom. Her hair flowed over her pillow in waves. Hope stood in the doorway longer than she should’ve and stared at the bed. Josie was breathing in and out evenly, away in a world of her own creation. She was sleeping with one arm cuddled beneath her pillow where her hand curled and was an inch away from her face. The yellow paint on the sleeve was luminescent in the dark.

The thing was, Hope wasn’t exactly experienced in the sleepover department. She’d visited her aunt Rebekah but that was different. She was family. And she babysat Nik while Aunt Freya and Keelin went out for the night. He liked trains and horses. It wasn’t exactly preparation for this moment.

She wasn’t helping the matter by hovering between the rooms.

She climbed into the bed and laid on her back. The mattress was lumpy and the sheets were scratchy. She clasped her hands on her stomach and closed her eyes. This wasn’t a sleepover. They weren’t watching movies or doing each other’s hair or gossiping into the night. They were sharing a bed and it was just as simple as that.

“You’re painting again,” Josie murmured into the darkness.

“How did you know about my sabbatical?”

“You used to have paint on your hands and clothes all the time. When it’s not there, it’s hard not to miss.”

Hope closed her eyes. “Goodnight, Josie.”

“Night, Hope.”

Most people knew she painted. Not many people knew she’d stopped. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I might be able to get another chapter in this week. (Sad there'll be no Hosie interaction in this week's episode.) Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Next up will be back at the Salvatore school with a sober Josie.


End file.
